Softly, softly

[pjm007]

Does the phrase softly, softly catchy monkey annoy anyone else ? It really makes me cringe whenever i hear someone say it

[JOEYSHABADO]

I like it. Makes it sound like a bush expression. And it's a good analogy. Hmmm. Just give it time, it may grow on you. Remember, softly softly catchee monkee.

[pjm007]

JOEY...Somehow i think not!

[Peter Pedant]

The arabic for softly softly....is

shwoya, shwoya, while making patting signs with your hands. Might find it usefulif you were plucked up and found fyourself in a suq in Iraq.

[Kingaroo]

what does it even mean? Something like "sneak up quietly if you want to catch the monkey" or "easy does it"?

[Quizmonster]

It's usually written as 'softly, softly catchee monkey' as if someone, perhaps Chinese, is speaking pidgin English. It first appeared in print in a book of quotations published in 1907. It is, Kingaroo, just a proverbial phrase recommending caution and the gentle approach as the best way to achieve an objective, as you yourself suggest. I rather like it myself, Pjm!

There are, of course, dialects of Arabic, but I've only ever heard 'Shway-shway' to mean 'slowly, slowly'...at least among Gulf/Saudi Arabs. 'Shwoya-shwoya' might conceivably work in Iraq, as Peter suggests.

[philomath]

The phrase "Softly, softly, catchee monkey" comes from the novel "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).  See:  http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_kim_notesF.htm (Scroll 4/5 of the way down that page to [Page 408, line 26]).  Kipling claimed that it was an old Chinese proverb advising the listener to approach his intended victim or target with stealth.